With so much information available and countless ways you can study, it can feel overwhelming and difficult to know where to start!
We’ve made a list of our top 3 tips to help you feel confident that you’re making the best use of your efforts and time, and to help you gain success in passing your AFK exam.
1. CHOOSE PATH WISELY AND COMMIT TO THE PLAN
Your time is valuable and limited. Our biggest recommendation is think about what method of studying will work best for your life and personality. Find an AFK focused study plan that ensures you’re utilizing and maximizing your time.
Research what options for studying are available (courses, books, in class, online, etc) and then evaluate what method would be the most beneficial for you! Some suggestions to consider:
Do you prefer to study in a classroom setting with a live instructor and among your peers? If yes, finding an in-class course with knowledgeable instructors and in depth, comprehensive course material is an excellent option for you. You’ll get the benefit of in person experience in addition to online content and support, and AFK course textbooks.
Do you prefer to study with a flexible schedule, to learn at your own pace and on your own time? If this resonates with you, an online course may be ideally suited for you. It provides you with high quality recorded lectures, an online forum, live seminars where you can discuss and ask questions, and AFK course textbooks shipped to your address anywhere in the world.
Do you prefer independent study from dental textbooks and self taught learning? This is an option available to everyone, however in our experience it is less advised for several reasons; it lacks the benefit of having someone available to answer/clarify any questions you may have, and it removes you from your peers, which acts as a guide to measure your progress against. It generally limits the amount of support you receive during your studies, which can greatly reduce your chances of success.
Once you decide which study path will be most suited to you, take the choice and COMMIT to the material provided by the course, COMMIT to the plan and COMMIT to the effort it will take to achieve your goal of passing the AFK!
2. DON’T GET STUCK
Can’t get past a question or table? Our advice is to ignore it.
When studying and learning new material, there’s always going to be approximately 5-10% of it that doesn’t come easy to you. It can feel annoying and frustrating. Rest assured it’s much more effective in the long term to leave that question, table or topic and move onto something else. When you spend too much time and energy trying to force learning, it will only get in your way, block your mind and prevent you from moving forward.
Instead, manage the 5% difficult sections by reading it once, then let it go and move on. Turn your focus and attention to the remaining 90-95% parts of book, chapter or topic. Once you get a good grasp of the majority of the material and it becomes familiar, you can return to the challenging parts.
3. CROSS OUT WHAT YOU ALREADY KNOW
You’re already a Doctor, so much of what you’re learning will be things that will become easy or things you may already know. Once you feel confident in a particular area, cross out and eliminate that particular section, chapter, idea or paragraph so that you have more time in the future to review the sections that are more challenging for you.
This helps to make your time for review more efficient by focusing on things that you actually need to learn, and not reviewing things that you already know.
For specific details about this tip Click here to watch our "How To Study" section in our orientation video.
Now, you need to go back to the first point and make a decision about which path you will be taking. Check out the video below to see how our online platform looks like.
Because your time is limited, a large part of your study plan should include time management skills. We are confident that the above 3 tips will help you reach your goals of passing the AFK!